MST3K 904 - Werewolf
The Movie Synopsis Archaeologists working in Arizona find a werewolf skeleton. The ill-tempered foreman, Yuri (played by Jorge Rivero) gets into a fight with his crew: Tommy, Joel, and Bill. In the course of the fight, Tommy is scratched by the werewolf skeleton. This greatly alarms his fellow diggers, especially Joel. The head archaeologist, Noel, details what he knows of werewolf behavior, which he bases on American Indian mythology. Here the werewolf, or yetiglanchi takes on strange behavior including "sleeping nose to anus." Tommy is taken to the hospital, where he begins showing signs of lycanthropy, and he eventually turns into a werewolf. Joel and Bill arm themselves with shotguns and silver bullets and succeed in killing Tommy. in Werewolf]] The scene shifts to a house in suburban Flagstaff (which resembles the real Flagstaff very little) and a writer named Paul Niles (Federico Cavalli) arrives to live there. At a party, he is introduced to one of the archaeologists, Natalie Burke (Adrianna Miles) and takes a romantic interest in her. Yuri is jealous and behaves badly, which leads to his expulsion from the party by his boss Noel. Yuri, (whose hair drastically changes hairstyles) walks to the laboratory and conspires to create a new werewolf; he drugs a security guard (played by director Tony Zarindast) and injects him with blood he earlier drew from the werewolf, Tommy. He creates a new werewolf, but the werewolf makes the unfortunate choice of driving itself home, and suddenly crashes into some oil drums (inexplicably placed in the middle of the road) and dies in the ensuing fire. The following day, Paul visits the lab at Natalie's invitation. He gets into a fight with Yuri, who attacks him with the werewolf skull. Paul is scratched by the skull, and now it is his turn to start showing symptoms of lycanthropy. He starts attacking people at night, but remembers little of it. Finally, Natalie and Yuri spy him changing. Yuri plots to capture Paul and take him to the lab, and convinces Natalie to help him. In a murky chase sequence, Paul, in werewolf form, kills Yuri. He and Natalie (now a werewolf, herself, with no explanation as to how she became one, although the trailer of the film hints at a sex scene not shown in the film) reunite at the end of the movie. Information in ''Werewolf '']] * As part of the show's original run, this was the most recent movie to be spoofed by MST3K (until Season 12's ''Atlantic Rim'')'' in terms of production, being filmed and released in 1996. The most recent movie in terms of release date was ''Future War, which was filmed in 1994 but wasn't released until 1997. Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders was also released in 1996, but included material that had been shot as long ago as the early 1980s. * Several scenes from Werewolf were shot on the campus of Glendale Community College in Glendale, California. The lab scenes took place in the old Physical Science building before it was refurbished in the early 2000s. The footbridge that crosses Verdugo Road, in front of the College, is seen in several nighttime shots. * Director Tony Zarindast had purchased the stock shot of the car driving into the oil drums and exploding before shooting. He had his personal car painted to match the color of the car in the stock shots. This creates a notable mistake in the film: The original chase car is a Ford Taurus, but changes into a Plymouth Acclaim for the explosion sequence (which is later noted by Mike and the Bots). * To help keep the film on schedule and on budget, actors Randall Oliver, R.C. Bates, Joe Estevez, and Richard Lynch performed their own stunts. * The many colors of Yuri's (Jorge Rivero's) hair: Black, Orange, Brown, Blonde highlights, Black and parted like Hitler, Salt and pepper dry look and Gray skunk stripe. To be fair, Yuri's hair never really changes color - it appears to be due to the inconsistent lighting and various days that pass during both filming and the film itself. The Episode Host Segments *'Introduction': After a fall, Mike thinks that he's James Lipton and interviews Crow, thinking the latter is Ray Liotta and interviews him about his film career. *'Segment One': Crow hits Mike with a clown hammer, restoring him to his senses. Mike attempts to affect an escape, but accidentally lands in Castle Forrester. Mike decides to give up after Brain Guy produces a cannon and points it at him. * Segment Two: Mike and the Bots speculate over whom they would cast in their werewolf movies, using famous celebrity relatives (including Spike Knotts and Chip Hitler) as characters. All Crow can come up with is Ray Liotta. *'Segment Three': Mike, Tom and Crow dress up as a '60s girl group and sing "Where, Oh Werewolf", about "Cindy" (Mike)'s doomed relationship with her werewolf boyfriend. * Segment Four: Mike cuts himself on Crow's head and begins turning into a Werecrow. Servo is horrified, but Crow warms to the idea and tells Mike what to expect from his transformation. *'Segment Five': Mike is even further along in his transformation, but Servo comes up with an antidote. Unfortunately, Servo is now transforming into a Weremike. At Castle Forrester, Pearl attempts to create her own werewolf, but Bobo produces a cocker spaniel instead. * Stinger: Natalie's flat emotionless delivery of the line "This is absolutely fascinating." Trivia * The "wolf" in the last host segment was played by Kevin Murphy's dog, Humphrey. Humphrey had previously appeared in all of the author photos in ''The Amazing Colossal Episode Guide''. *The helmet prop that Mike wears during his ladder descent had previously appeared during Mike's spacewalk in Experiment #902 The Phantom Planet. * During the host segment when Mike begins turning into a Were-Crow and asks Crow what to expect, Crow mentions that his voice will change every seven years or so - a reference to the fact that the actor who provided the voice of Crow changed from Trace Beaulieu to Bill Corbett in the show's seventh season. * Werewolf was one of the films used in the 2013 Turkey Day marathon, based on fans' recommendations to Joel Hodgson. * This was the episode Sci-Fi Channel submitted for Emmy consideration. It was not nominated. * Ranked 8th in the Top 100 Episodes as chosen by backers of the Bring Back MST3K Kickstarter. * This is one of iCarly actress Jennette Mccurdy's favorite episodes. * This episode aired third during Turkey Day '13, and third during Turkey Day '19. Songs * "Where, Oh Werewolf" --Music and lyrics by Michael J. Nelson and Mary Jo Pehl Obscure References *''"Right - King Timohoe here is going to drive himself home."'' 'King Timahoe was an Irish setter owned by President Nixon. *''"An American Werewolf in traffic!"'' A reference to the film, An American Werewolf in London. *''"...a film called Operation Dumbo Drop. Let's talk about that!"'' Operation Dumbo Drop was a 1995 movie starring Danny Glover and Ray Liotta. *''"...Harold Robbins' The Lonely Lady..."'' The Lonely Lady was a a novel by Harold Robbins, later made into a movie in 1983 starring Pia Zadora. *"Louis Leakey in ''Every Which Way But Loose!"'' Louis Leakey was a renowned archaeologist, naturalist, and paleo-anthropologist. Every Which Way But Loose was a 1978 movie starring Clint Eastwood and a trained orangutan. Clint's character frequently gets into back alley fistfights for money, hence the reference during the scuffle at the dig site. *''"The Man in the Yellow Hat is called in to calm things down."'' The Man in the Yellow Hat was the human caregiver and father figure of the monkey Curious George. *''"Laura Dern prototype."'' Natalie's initial appearance bears some resemblance to actress Laura Dern and her role as Dr. Sattler from the film ''Jurassic Park'' (both female protagonists were introduced at a dig site). *''"Awww, the poor thing has TMJ."'' Temporomandibular joint dysfunction, a condition that affects the joint between the skull and the mandible. *''"It might just be the Bumpuses' dogs, we're not sure."'' The Bumpuses were the family of "hillbilly neighbors" in A Christmas Story. Their noisy dogs were a constant source of annoyance to the father in the story, and the dogs eventually ruined the family's Christmas dinner. *''"Heyyyy yayyyyy..Hiiiii....Yee Oh..Hi Oooohhhhhh!!! ...Pure Moods!"'' Servo seems to be mimicking the Native American chant heard in the song "Return to Innocence" by new age musical group Enigma. ''Pure Moods'' is a compilation of New Age Music by various artists (including Enigma) on CD. * "Sniff...sniff...I just heard 'Goodbye England's Rose.'" Referring to the Elton John song of the same name (AKA Candle in the Wind) that was written for Marilyn Monroe, but was re-written in response to the premature death of Princess Diana. *''"They're establishing the hell out of this building here."'' An establishing shot is used to show that the film is changing locations, or that time has passed between scenes. It's usually not nearly as long as the shot in the film (about fifteen seconds). *''"E-O eleven..."'' From the theme song to the original version of Ocean's Eleven. *"A silver bullet."'' "There's Coors Light in your gun?"'' Coors Light beer is referred to as "The Silver Bullet" in a long-running ad campaign. *''"If it's Martin, shoot to kill. Then *I* can be in Spawn!"'' In 1997, Martin Sheen appeared in the movie adaptation of the comic book Spawn (probably a double-joke because of Spawn's reputation of being a terrible film.) * "You'll get to know everyone! It's a small town!" "It is?...." Flagstaff had a population of around 55,000 people when this movie was made, hence why Tom Servo quietly questions Natalie's statement about it being a "small town." * "It's the actual skeleton of a pushmi-pullyu." The pushmi-pullyu was a type of llama from Dr. Dolittle that had a head on both ends of its body. * "My modern man-made werewolf!" "The very model of a modern man-made werewolf!" Parody of the Gilbert and Sullivan song "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General!" *''"Hey mighty brontosaurus, don't you have a lesson for us?!"'' The drum beats heard on the movie's soundtrack prompts Tom Servo to sing an excerpt from Sting's "Walking In Your Footsteps". *''"Travis Bickle moved out to the suburbs!"'' Travis Bickle was the title character in the 1976 film Taxi Driver. He was mentally unstable and eventually shaved his head into a mohawk and went on a killing spree. *"I'll take a walk!" "Over to Kirk Douglas's house!" Reference to the actor Kirk Douglas and his often angry/intense line delivery, whom Yuri seems to imitate. *"This is like the time I hit that reporter with Piltdown Man's thighbone." Piltdown Man was a famous paleontology hoax of the 1920s, where the skull of a supposed "missing link" between man and ape was found. It was proven to be a hoax decades later. *''"C'mon, The Sheltering Sky moved quicker than this movie!"'' The Sheltering Sky was a 1990 movie set in post-war North Africa revolving around two tourist couples. It is notoriously slow-moving and co-starred John Malkovich. *''"Flagstaff. I can't believe I'm still in Flagstaff!"'' A parody of the opening line from Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Werewolf star Joe Estevez also filled in for his older brother, Martin Sheen, for some parts of the film's narration. *''"Oh, weasels ripped my flesh again."'' A reference to a Frank Zappa album, famous for its cover art. *''"Word of advice, never have sex with Flo-Jo."'' Track star Florence Griffith-Joyner was famous for having very long fingernails. *''"It's the Red Shoe Diaries all of a sudden!"'' Red Shoe Diaries was an erotic drama anthology series that aired on Showtime in the 90s. * "The Coen Brothers?" The fast dolly shot in on Paul resembles a similar shot in the Coen Brothers' movie Raising Arizona, but that particular style of shot is more closely associated with Sam Raimi, director of the Evil Dead trilogy, among other films. *''"Ziggy played...GUITAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR"'' Yuri's hairstyle at that moment in the movie looks somewhat like David Bowie's during the Ziggy Stardust period of his career. *''"Can't you see what I'm trying to tell you - I love you!"'' Groucho Marx said this line in the film Duck Soup. *''"PBR me ASAP!"'' Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer used this phrase in an advertising campaign for their beer. *"I was playing Miss Havisham in the school play when I got attacked by a werewolf!" Miss Havisham is a character in Charles Dickens's novel Great Expectations. She wore an elaborate wedding dress that had deteriorated with age. *"You know what I really want to do?"'' "Is baby be friends with you."'' Lyrics from Bob Dylan's song "All I Really Want to Do". *"Frederic Remington's Guernica''."'' Frederic Remington was an American artist famous for his depictions of American history, particularly the Old West. Guernica was a famous painting by Pablo Picasso depicting the Fascist bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. *"Basquiat is in danger!" Jean-Michel Basquiat was a New York artist. *"Leland Sklar, survivalist" Leland Sklar is a musician noted for his facial hair. *"Live from New York, it's Saturday night!" This is the famous lead-in line to Saturday Night Live. In the long-running sketch show's first season, the line was typically delivered by actor Chevy Chase after he made some kind of dangerous fall, in reference to Mike making the remark as a woman falls down a flight of stairs. *"It's a Maurice Sendak creature." Maurice Sendak wrote and illustrated numerous children's books. With the long pointy fingernails the creature's silhouette is seen with, the reference is probably mainly to Where the Wild Things Are. *"The death of Oliver Sacks." Oliver Sacks is a prominent British neurologist and author of the book Awakenings. *"She learned English from the wild and crazy guys." A series of sketches from Saturday Night Live in the 70s, where Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd played a pair of Czech brothers with heavy accents who are constantly trying to pick up women. *''"So, basically, werewolves are Jackson Browne."'' Jackson Browne was alleged to have been physically abusive to his girlfriend Darryl Hannah, though no charges were brought. *''"And Congress enacted the Pop Rocks labeling law."'' A reference to the urban legend that eating the carbonated candy Pop Rocks at the same time that you drank a carbonated beverage like Coca-Cola would kill you by causing your stomach to explode. Though this isn't true, it's still not recommended. * "Mr. and Mrs. B.O. Plenty..." B.O. (Bob Oscar) Plenty is a supporting character in the long-running newspaper comic strip Dick Tracy. An unsophisticated rural type, Plenty has a long, unkempt beard. His wife, 'Gravel' Gertie, has long silky white hair but a gruesome face (with bulging eyes, a hairy upper lip, and crooked teeth). doesn't find this specimen to be all that "fascinating."]] A list of songs sung by Mike and the bots during the closing credits: *''Pow Wow the Indian Boy: theme song from a cartoon featured on the "Captain Kangaroo" show. *We Will Rock You: by Queen *Tusk: by Fleetwood Mac *The Battle of New Orleans: by Johnnie Horton *Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves: by Cher *The Lonely Goatherd: from ''The Sound of Music *''Here Comes Santa Claus: by Gene Autry *Give It Away: by Red Hot Chili Peppers *Brand New Key: by Melanie *Admiral Halsey/Uncle Albert: by Paul and Linda McCartney *Cat's in the Cradle: by Harry Chapin *Easter Parade: by Irving Berlin *One Night in Bangkok: from ''Chess *''Surrey With a Fringe on Top: from ''Oklahoma! *''The Freshmen: by Verve Pipe *Oh! Susanna: by Stephen Foster Gags/Continuity Errors An interesting thing to notice is that Tom Servo, who normally required the assistance of Mike or Joel to enter the theater, is shown entering the movie theater all by himself in the beginning of the movie, as Mike was not on the SOL when the movie started. Since Servo's hovering abilities were just as exaggerated as Crow's rarely seen feet and MST3K is a show that encourages viewers to "just relax", this was never explained. Memorable Quotes : ''is lagging behind, so Servo and Crow enter the theater alone. Title card is shown. : '''Servo: I don't know, you had him last! laughs : Crow: You can't say that! You're gonna get in trouble! That's a really stupid joke, and I'm gonna tell Mike! : Servo: Ha-ha, I don't care, what's Mike gonna do, anyway? laughs : enters. : Mike: Hey, guys. : Servo: screams YAH! : Crow: Mike, the title came up and it said Werewolf, and then Servo said "I don't know, you had him last!" And... and I... I think that was a really stupid joke... : Mike: chuckles Ah, well, that's pretty funny, I like that! : Servo: Thank you! : Crow: backpedaling Heeeey, that's what I meant! I... I like it. : finishes chuckling : Crow: defeated Good one, Servo. : Servo: gloating Well, thank you! chuckles : Joe Estevez appears in the credits, Crow reads through the other names. : Crow: Well so far the "star power" consists of Charlie Sheen's uncle. : group is sweeping in the sand during an archaeological dig in the desert. : Billy: Hey, I got something here! : Crow: It's Ron! : breaks into a massive brawl with the other archaeologists. : Crow: Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Archaeologists! : . . . : Crow: It's a production of Road House in the Park. : . . . : Mike: And during the fight, they stomped all over the Ark of the Covenant. : Noel: At the risk of sounding nuts... : Crow Noel: I've replaced my toes with grapes. : a shot of the moon : Servo moon: Oh, I ate too much - I am a full moon! : Mike: I am gonna hit you so hard... : of a poor-looking werewolf running through the woods. : Servo: No, wait! It's a gorilla! : up of poor-looking werewolf mask. : Servo: ...With a dog mask on! : Niles goes upstairs after his awkward introduction to "Sam the Keeper." : Sam: Mr. Niles! : Servo Sam: We're sharing a bed!! : Paul: Yes? : Sam: I just found out Count Dracula was a fa***t. : Paul: ....Oh... Is that right? : Sam: You don't have to believe me... But that's "The Facts!" : Mike: You know suddenly I miss my dad. : and Natalie make eye contact at a party. : Servo: I see some really stupid children being born as a result of these two meeting. : takes Yuri outside after Yuri drunkenly hits on Natalie. : Noel: Yuri! What the hell is the matter with you? : Crow Noel: You are married to me! : a party, writer Paul chats with archaeologist Natalie. : Paul: I'm actually working on something now. : Natalie: Really? What's the subject matter? : Crow Paul: You're right. The subject doesn't matter at all! : Mike: Heh, good one! : the lab, a grandmother-like Noel (Richard Lynch) stalls English-impaired Natalie. : Natalie: What are you hiding from me, Noel? Tell me the truth! : Servo Noel: Grandma voice You can't handle the truth, deary! : Noel: In due time, you'll know everything. : Natalie: Well, maybe then it's too late! : Mike: Wow! The future conditional pluperfect subjunctive. : slaughtering tenses and mispronouncing werewolf multiple times, Natalie walks in and sees Paul as a werewolf. : Mike Natalie: Paul, you is a wahrwilf! : the harpsichord pool bar, Natalie confronts Yuri about his werewolf-kidnapping plan. : Natalie: So it all comes to this? : Servo Natalie: The... thing that it comes to? : Natalie: You and Noel is in it for fame and fortune? : Crow Yuri: Yes, we is. : Natalie: But over my dead''BOD''y. You hear me? I won't stand for it! : Servo Natalie: You is a jerk! : paunchy man in a black leather jacket is seen at the pool hall. : Crow: Chubby Ramone! : having completely transformed into a werewolf, approaches Sam. : Sam: Werewolf? : Crow Paul: No, I'm a squirrel monkey; OF COURSE I'm a werewolf, you... : Natalie is about to go upstairs to "WerePaul", Sam stops her. : Sam: Oh wait! Ms. Natalie! I really don't think you should go in there! Something horrible has happened! : Mike Sam: I passed my tapeworm!! : the end of the film, a door slams in the background : Crow: Oh, that was the sound of the director giving up and leaving. : Crow and Servo sing alternate lyrics over generic Native American chanting in the credits : Mike: Pow Wow the Indian boy, loved all the animals in the west... : Mike, Crow and Servo: We will, we will, we will ROCK YOU! Tusk! : Servo: Though they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles and they ran through the places where a rabbit wouldn't go... : Crow: Gypsies, tramps and thieves, we heard it from the people of the town... : Mike, Crow and Servo: Tusk! : Mike: High on a hill lived a lonely goatherd, lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo... : Servo: Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus Lane... : Mike, Crow and Servo: Tusk! : Crow: Give it away, give it away, give it away now! Give it away, give it away, give it away now! : Mike: I've got a brand new pair of roller skates, you've got a brand new key... : Mike, Crow and Servo: Tusk! : Servo: Admiral Halsey notified me, he had to have a bath or he couldn't get to sleep... : Crow: And the cat's in the cradle with the silver spoon, Little Boy Blue with the man in the moon... : Mike: In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it... : Servo: One night in Bangkok makes a strong man crumble! : Crow: Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry, when I take you out in a surrey... : Mike: We were merely fresh''men! : '''Mike, Crow and Servo': Oh Susanna, oh don't you cry for me! Cause I come from Alabammy with a banjo on my knee! Tusk! Video Release * Commercially released on DVD by Shout! Factory in October 2008 as part of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The 20th Anniversary Edition box set, a 4-DVD set with Future War, Laserblast, and First Spaceship on Venus. **DVD special features include The History of MST3K Part Three and the theatrical trailer. * Released for Streaming and Download on RiffTrax in December 2015 with special introduction by Mike Nelson. http://www.rifftrax.com/mst3k-werewolf *Available for rent or purchase on Amazon's streaming service. Category:MST3K Episodes Category:Season 9 Category:1990s movies Category:R-rated movies Category:Direct-to-video films Category:Episodes directed by Michael J. Nelson Category:Movies with nudity edited out